The day had finally arrived. My time in Jakarta had been spent mostly with taking Emily from one museum to the other. Despite myself not being too interested, seeing Emily geeking out does put a smile on my face. The trips ended up being quite enjoyable. I also took her to other nearby areas like Bogor and Bekasi for quick day trips. 

After all those little trips, the day finally arrived. I rubbed my hands together as I waited for her. Being near the equator, Indonesia didn’t have a winter season, so it didn’t feel particularly cold, but that didn’t mean it was hot either. I parked the car in front of Emily’s house. Emily, still inside, waved toward her parents and headed out for the car. She disappeared from the seat behind me and appeared from inside the fence. 

She closed the fence and rushed toward the car, entering from the passenger seat. We had been going on these trips pretty often in the last week. Emily’s parents were free from work starting from the twenty-first, while mine had stopped working from the twenty-third. With nothing else to do, we spent time together until those two dates. 

Emily’s family would be taking a vacation to Switzerland from the twentieth seven until the second of January, though, so this would be our last chance to spend time together for the year. 

“Let’s go.”

Emily said with a wide grin. She wore a pink sweater coupled with a black knee-level skirt for the day. She tied her hair into a ponytail with a cute little ribbon. She looked at me with expectation.

“Where to, though.”

“Anywhere will be fine.”

I didn’t have an idea of where to take her, but there is one place that we hadn’t visited. It was located right beside the shopping mall that we visited back during Olivia’s wedding. Poodle Map said that it was an hour away. 

“Is this alright?”

I asked as I showed her the screen. 

“An hour away?”

She asked. I nodded. The problem was that since it was a holiday, with tomorrow being the big day, naturally more people would be around. Especially since it was already this late. People would probably be hanging out around malls buying gifts for their loved ones at this point. I would prefer somewhere closer, but after a few days of being left alone, we had practically exhausted our list of destinations to visit. 

“Yeah. Should I choose somewhere closer?”

Emily shook her head. 

“I’ve eaten a bit before going out.”

“Alright, then.”

I put my foot on the gas and moved out of Emily’s complex. We drove west, heading for West Jakarta. The map told us that the fastest route wouldn’t be through a regular road that cut through Central Jakarta, but instead, the toll road that traveled on the northern side of the city, right next to the sea. I decided to follow it. 

“You looked great.”

I commented as I drove. I had taken a good look at her outfit before we departed, so I can say that even if my eyes were on the road. She twirled her hair, looking flushed. 

“Thanks…” 

Seeing her acting all shy made my heart skip a bit. 

I wonder if…

I had been feeling these sorts of feelings for a while now. Spending so much time with the real Emily and not her shadow made me think about things I didn’t think about so far. 

We talked about various things as we made our way past the busy streets. Emily told me the story about how they went to dinner with Olivia and her husband’s family. They had kept a close relationship until now, and wished to stay close. I didn’t have many chances to speak with them directly, but from the limited run-ins, especially at the wedding, I could tell that they were good people.

Emily then went on and told me about the shopping she did after that. She then went on about a beautiful fish painting she saw being sold in the mall. She also talked about a sculpture of an ancient fish being displayed in the same mall. Certainly not something you would see every day. She ended up discussing a bit about the era that fish lived in.

Despite being stuck together with her, this was the first time I heard about all of this. I couldn’t see the world she saw, after all, only limited to her words and her movements. I found myself wanting to see more of the sights she saw. I felt weird feelings in my heart as I heard her continuing about random fish facts she learned in that art exhibition. I found myself thinking less of the exhibition and more about Emily herself. 

“Yeah, and fish can drown as well.”

“Wait… what?”

Emily’s random fact brought my attention back from her and to the fish. In a way, I feel like this should be something obvious. If it didn’t move, it couldn’t eat, fell deeper and died, but was that the true meaning of drowning?

“Well, maybe not that kind of drowning, but basically no oxygen equals death.”

“Isn’t that the case for all living beings, including trees?”

“But you wouldn’t call a tree drowning, would you?”

“I can throw it into the water?”

“What if it swims up?”

“We’re all going to die, then.”

Emily looked at me, startled by my words. She looked confused about where the conversation was headed, probably not expecting my words. 

As we weaved around traffic, we talked about more of her days. She told me some stories from her university days. It felt weird in a way. I was there beside her as she experienced all these things, but at the same time, they felt new to me. I did try to not meddle in her personal matters, but to think I missed so much. 

Eventually, the mall’s building came into sight. It stood proudly in the midst of the capital’s bustling cityscape. Lines of cars waited in front of the entrance, one by one going through the security check. Security guards clad in all-black clothing used a mirror to check the undersides of each vehicle before letting them through. They did the same for me. After the check, they beckon me forward with a smile. I then reached for the ticket box on the right side. I pressed the button and took a paper receipt before driving into the mall. 

We went past the mall’s side and headed to the large parking lot behind the building. We drove up the spiral driveway. I went past two floors before arriving at the third floor of the parking lot, two stories above the mall itself. It took me around twelve minutes before finally finding a space to park. As the car came to a stop, Emily cheerfully hopped off the vehicle. I made sure it was locked before escorting her into the building. 

The parking lot’s hot and dry air filled my nostrils, the sound of tires screeching audible in the distance. Since the parking lot was built above the mall, we needed to head down. Due to the number of visitors, the parking lot was practically filled with cars. We needed to walk quite a bit before we could reach the escalators at the end of the lot. 

I didn’t know whether this mall’s parking lot had any elevators or not. I assumed it did, but I didn’t know where it was, so my only option was to walk. Emily didn’t seem to mind one bit, though. She cheerfully stepped in front of me, while talking about the recent show she watched. I nodded as I paid attention to her words. 

We eventually reached the mall. A security guard scanned our bags with a metal detector before allowing us to enter. I felt the cold air come from above me as I stepped past the mall’s glass walls. The mall inside was filled with visitors. People went around with their families while bringing bags featuring various brands with them. Little headed out for the parking lot, most of those who went our way were heading for the toilet instead. Since we had spent almost an hour in the car, we decided to go clear things up before going any further. 

Once down, I and Emily headed deeper. Restaurants lined up the area left of us. Most of them were still full, so we would need to wait for a while before we could get seated. Right of us was a large bookstore. I didn’t have a reason to enter, so I asked Emily about it. Emily shook her head and we went on. 

“Let’s grab something light first.”

Emily said. She let out a mischievous grin, as if she had planned something. It was Christmas Eve, so I shouldn’t be surprised if she did. I did feel bad for not coming up with anything, though, even when I had been given the time to do so. Regretting about it wouldn’t help me, though, so I brought my attention to Emily’s question. 

“Light?”

What would define a light meal? Bread or biscuits maybe? Snacks? It would be best if we could find a place that wasn’t crowded, however. 

“How does a burger sound?”

I gave my suggestion.

“... Define, light.”

Wasn’t that something you, as the person inviting me to eat, be defining? In my opinion, a burger counts as a light meal. For me, it felt something like I would eat as a snack. Despite disagreeing with me on what ‘light’ means, she didn’t seem to mind. 

“Let’s go, then.”

She took my hand, much to my surprise, and dragged me. We went to the center of the mall and took the elevator all the way down to the basement, or officially called, underground. I was fairly confused on where she was dragging me. My question was finally answered when we arrived in front of a fast food chain. It had some people lined up, waiting to order some food. The tables were filled with people, so I doubt we could find a place to sit. 

Several people, who had finished their meals, left. Their place was filled by other people, though. We did arrive right around dinner. We waited in line while chatting about our plans. After this, Emily wanted to visit the department store. The store was located right below where we parked. It did occupy three entire floors, so we could start from the bottom. 

Eventually, it was our turn to order. I picked a simple cheeseburger. Emily decided to go with my choice. As Emily prepared to pay, she spotted someone leaving their seat. She elbowed me, prompting me to quickly head for the table, careful to not trip over anything. I managed to arrive at it before anyone else. I sat down and waited for Emily. I called Emily to the table and offered to trade with her. 

“Don’t worry about it.”

She said before returning to the cashier. I waited for her while fiddling with my phone. Despite playing with the screen, I could see family sitting across me, and a couple on my right. On my left was a wall, so nothing to see there. I didn’t know why I suddenly noticed them, but my mind went back to Emily as she brought two burgers on a tray and set them down in front of me. The burgers came with drinks, as well.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

She set the tray aside and we started enjoying our meal. We didn’t talk much, other than little comments about the taste of the burger. Since there were still a lot of people wanting to eat after us, we decided to wrap it up as fast as possible, but careful to not go too fast. After finishing, I accompanied Emily as we went around the mall.  

 

Night soon falls on our day. As the skies darken, not that it was visible from inside the mall, we made our way toward the parking lot, a bag of clothing in Emily’s hand. I, meanwhile, carried a history book she bought. There was a small bazaar in the department store selling several books, and she decided to grab one. We put our things into the trunk and hopped into the car. 

Emily suddenly said that she wanted to go somewhere for dinner. I asked why she didn’t tell me any earlier, and she said that she wanted to prioritize my choice over hers. Since I didn’t have any other place I wanted to visit, we should go to her destination to grab some food. I handed my phone to Emily, who entered the location into the map. It would take us around twenty minutes to reach the destination. The map showed with an icon on the top corner that there was no traffic, probably in part to how late it got. 

We had already obtained permission to go out until midnight, so as long as I got her home before then, we should be fine. 

“Where are we going?”

“That’s a secret.”

Emily said with a gleeful smile. 

“What if we got lost?”

“We got lost together.”

I didn’t consider going into a random alleyway in the dead of night as a good idea, but I decided to trust Emily on this one and carefully followed the map as we made our way toward her destination.